Dr. William Eickhorst, professor emeritus of art, was studying at Parsons School of Design in New York in the early 1960s when a friend in his printmaking class gave him one of his pieces. That print became the first acquisition in what was to become a collection of more than 1,000 prints. Last fall, nearly six decades later, Dr. Eickhorst and his wife, Edith, donated that collection to Missouri Western. It will be housed in a newly created gallery on the second floor of Spratt Hall.
Amanda Morrow, University curator, said the collection includes a wide variety of work mostly from 20th and 21st century artists. It will be stored on campus and pieces will be rotated in the gallery on a regular basis. She and Eric Fuson, artist-in-residence, designed the gallery and storage space.
“We are so lucky to have the collection for the students and the community,” Morrow said. “It will be very educational.”
The collection also includes a small library of monographs of artists, printmaking history and printmaking technique that will be available to students.
For more on this story, see the Spring 2019 issue of MWSU Magazine.